TAMIU overcomes RSU, misses postseason due to tiebreaker and league rule

By Zach Davis, Laredo Morning Times

Updated
9:17 am CDT, Sunday, October 28, 2018

Cem Izgec had an assist and four shots in the Dustdevils’ 3-2 victory at Rogers State on Saturday.

Cem Izgec had an assist and four shots in the Dustdevils’ 3-2 victory at Rogers State on Saturday.

Photo: Danny Zaragoza /Laredo Morning Times File

Photo: Danny Zaragoza /Laredo Morning Times File

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Cem Izgec had an assist and four shots in the Dustdevils’ 3-2 victory at Rogers State on Saturday.

Cem Izgec had an assist and four shots in the Dustdevils’ 3-2 victory at Rogers State on Saturday.

Photo: Danny Zaragoza /Laredo Morning Times File

TAMIU overcomes RSU, misses postseason due to tiebreaker and league rule

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The Dustdevils men’s soccer team knew it was in some trouble after Thursday’s loss to St. Mary’s, losing control of its own destiny for postseason contention. And despite a big win to close their campaign, they couldn’t get enough help to keep their season alive due to an odd way the conference decides its six tournament representatives.

Texas A&M International won 3-2 on Saturday afternoon at Rogers State in a battle of teams vying to make the Heartland Conference tournament. But the team finished on the wrong end of a tiebreaker for the final spot, and they came up just shy of making the postseason despite being the league’s first team to ever finish with more conference points than another playoff representative that did qualify.

“This has been a group that has been resilient and they’ve fought,” TAMIU head coach Claudio Arias said. “They know we made mistakes early in the season. ... We are all sad. We should be in the playoffs if the system was different, but today was phenomenal. Rogers State was on Senior Day with everybody’s spirits up, and it was more than a regular game as it decided our fates. Those kids are out there playing for their parents and everyone else, and we were kind of crashing their party.”

TAMIU finishes the season 8-6-2 with a 7-6-1 record in the Heartland Conference after winning four of their last five outings. The group ended up in a tie for the sixth and final tournament spot with Newman (10-7-1, 7-6-1 Heartland) as each had 22 conference points. But the Jets got the last slot due to their 3-2 victory in Wichita, Kansas over the Dustdevils on Oct. 6.

While TAMIU could live with that, it was a little harder trying to wrap its head around the fact it would be sitting home while Lubbock Christian would be advancing. With teams earning three points per win and one per tie, the Chaparrals (8-6-3, 6-5-3) finished with only 21 points, yet they were even locked into a spot Saturday before they lost at Texas of the Permian Basin — giving the Falcons their first and only league win of 2018. That was because they had an automatic bid for winning the West division.

The strange part was that they won the West despite being well behind another team in it. The West’s second-place team in West Texas A&M is not only ranked No. 15 in the nation but owns a 14-2-2 record while finishing 11-2-1 in conference play giving it 34 points. But the Heartland Conference awards the automatic bids to teams not based on conference points but rather points earned in division play only. Because LCU was 3-1-2 in the West, it had 11 division points compared to the Buffs’ 10 as they were 3-2-1.

Further adding to the oddity, while Lubbock was technically one of the three divisional champions, the league isn’t treating them like it. In fact, while they were the third team out of six to earn a postseason spot, they will be dead last in the seeding in next week’s Heartland Conference tournament as the league is reseeding the postseason based on conference points. Thus West Texas A&M — a team the league deemed didn’t win its own division — still finds itself with a No. 2 seed and a first-round bye while the team that beat them for the division crown in LCU opens on the road as the sixth seed.

Those weren’t the only teams affected by the strange ruling. In fact, St. Edward’s won 2-1 over Dallas Baptist Saturday while St. Mary’s lost 1-0 to Newman as there was a tie on top of the South with 15 divisional points apiece. That handed SEU (8-8-1, 7-6-1) the South title and the automatic bid on the head-to-head tiebreaker. Yet they are still going into the postseason as the No. 5 seed and with a first-round road game while the Rattlers (9-4-3, 8-4-2) are the No. 3 seed and will play at home due to their 26-22 edge in overall conference points.

“I feel bad for the boys with the whole seeding thing. It was a little confusing for everybody,” Arias said. “We finished strong ... but it was sad to see that we had more points than another team but did not advance. That is a critique to the Heartland.

“(Saturday) was sweet and sour. I did not make the rules, so there’s not much I can do.”

The postseason field officially features No. 6 Midwestern State (15-1-1, 12-1-1) taking the No. 1 seed with 37 points after winning the North division joining second-seeded WTAMU on a bye. Meanwhile, St. Mary’s will host Lubbock Christian in the No. 3 vs. No. 6 battle while the fourth-seeded Jets will welcome in the fifth-seeded Hilltoppers.

Overall, Saturday was a wild day as four different teams went for the sixth and final postseason spot. Rogers State (8-8-2, 6-6-2) could’ve had it with a win, but the Dustdevils’ victory kept the Hillcats at 20 points. That put Eastern New Mexico (8-8-2, 6-6-2) in the driver’s seat but they lost to West Texas A&M to also remain at 20.

Those dominoes falling nearly put TAMIU into the postseason with 22 points. But the school couldn’t get any help from rival St. Mary’s as they rested their starters — seeing as they owned the No. 3 seed regardless — and dropped their finale 1-0 at Newman, giving the Jets 22 points and the final tournament spot.

This is just the second year the Dustdevils have not qualified for the conference tournament since it was installed five years ago.

“It’s disappointing,” Arias said. “We are guilty too because we had games we should have won. We messed up. Yet in the long term, we did better than a team that is in.”

The Jets picked up their win to eliminate TAMIU from the race midway through the Dustdevils’ second half. That meant TAMIU had no idea during their game of whether or not they were still playing for their postseason lives, and they competed with a sense of urgency in their impressive win over Rogers State.

The Dustdevils ended the day with a 19-11 edge in shots including 12-7 in shots on goal.

Ruben Nielsen led the way on offense racking up two goals on five shots and an assist while Abraham Salazar scored once. Cem Izgec had an assist and four shots while Charlie Michel and Johan Portales both had three shots.

Nielsen started things off with a go-ahead score at 8:23, taking a pass from Izgec before sinking his shot into the left corner of the net for the 1-0 lead. The Hillcats answered in the 27th minute with a goal from Chris Sowder to tie it at 1.

After halftime, Sowder scored again in the 64th minute for a 2-1 RSU lead. But with their season potentially on the line, TAMIU rallied back to tie it in the 72nd minute as Nielsen had his second score of the day off a penalty kick. And with nine minutes to play, Salazar scored the biggest goal of the season off a pass from Nielsen for the 3-2 win.

“It’s nice to see Abraham Salazar score the winning goal,” Arias said. “He’s a freshman and he’s done well for us. That brings us hope for the future.”